Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Picture: B-
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B
The influence of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)
is inarguable; it is one of the most influential and imitated films of all
time. That is even with Michael
Powell’s Peeping Tom (1960) coming out the same year, taking a
censorship bullet Hitchcock dodged. One
of the first films to take advantage of the influence was Robert Aldrich’s Whatever
Happened To Baby Jane? in 1962.
Another huge surprise hit for a low-budget Horror/Thriller film, a huge
cycle of such films ensured, including a great subgenre that brought back some
of Classic Hollywood’s greatest stars in roles that were deconstructive of
their glamour images. This included many
films that imitated the Jane title, plus little gems like Die! Die!
My Darling and Lady In A Cage, reviewed elsewhere on this site. Aldrich was not going to leave it at one
film.
Hush… Hush Sweet Charlotte (1965)
became the project, cleverly taking on some elements of Henri Georges Clouzot’s
original Les Diabolique (1955), as well as elements of a few recent
Hollywood classics. They included
Charles Laughton’s Night Of The Hunter (also 1955), Orson Welles’ Touch
Of Evil (1958) and some sly intertexual references to the past work of the
cast members. Bette Davis is the title
character, potentially insane from murdering her lover, or did she?
Her father (Victor Buono) gives her everything, but is not
happy with her choice of young man (Bruce Dern) because he will not be happy
with any young man. Too bad having him
out of the way ruins her life. Jump cut
to 1964 and the father is long gone and Charlotte is not the old matron owner
of the big family house. Too bad it is
in the way of construction of a new highway, to which she pulls out a rifle and
starts to open fire on the workers. Not
willing to give up the home easily, she is certain if her cousin Miriam (Olivia
de Havilland, in the role originally intended for Davis’ Baby Jane
co-star Joan Crawford before her departure) would show up, she could help stop
the raising of the house.
It is then a joyous occasion when Miriam actually shows
up! However, nothing is as it appears
and something more sinister is afoot.
Can Charlotte figure out what before she goes more insane, or is the
house haunted? After Baby Jane
was such a successful independent production, though distributed by Warner
Bros., Aldrich landed this project at 20th Century Fox and it too
was a deservedly big hit. Instead of
the raw irony of the first film, we get a lush world as suffocating nightmare
and proof that Baby Jane was not just a fluke genre hit in Aldrich’s
hands.
Having “hit” written all over it and Davis in the lead, it
was easier to draw star power. The
amazing cast also includes Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead (repeating a persona
she established in a great Twilight Zone episode called The Invaders
and got a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for it), Mary Astor,
Cecil Kellaway, Wesley Addy, George Kennedy and Aldrich regular Percy Helton as
the funeral director. This is not just
throwing big names at us like the disaster cycle of the 1970s would, this is
great casting.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image is unique in
the black and white DVDs we have reviewed to date. The gray scale is really good and the print used is also in fine
shape, but there are many places where the transfer is just too soft, while
very sharp and clear in others. The
great Joseph Biroc, A.S.C., shot most of the great Aldrich films since Attack!
(1956) and they are one of the most underrated and unanalyzed
director/cameraman relationships in cinema.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is here in its original mono or even better stereo
mix, including a score by another long time Aldrich collaborator, Frank
DeVol. DeVol could do upbeat music as
well as dark and serious. It is the
latter he excels at in this case.
In both respects, this is a better DVD than Warner issued
for Baby Jane, with its softer image and tiny Dolby 1.0 Mono. In fairness to Warner, that was one of the
very earliest DVDs they ever issued, so an HD-DVD should be around the
corner. As for extras here, you get an
original theatrical teaser, original theatrical trailer and several effective
TV spots, plus a fine audio commentary track by film fan Glenn Erickson that is
one of the better tracks you will hear.
He knows film and offers fine observations throughout. Hush… Hush Sweet Charlotte took a
while to make it to DVD, but it was worth the wait and is a must see for
Horror/Thriller fans.
- Nicholas Sheffo
